Instantly Age Wood, Part II

Last fall I made some rustic looking wooden shelves for our market booth. I wrote a tutorial on the instant wood ageing process using tea and a mixture of white vinegar and steel wool. Read Instantly Age Wood in order to make more sense of this post.

The reaction between the materials is still a mystery to me, but it intrigued me to the point I wanted to experiment further. I even tried it on fabric and rope!

When I used some old leftover mixture, the wood turned brown! Not gray at all, but a pretty chocolate brown as seen in the photo above. So I decided to make a sample using mixtures of different ages to see if the results got darker or browner over time.

I made four different mixtures. Two with the 10% white vinegar and two with 5% white vinegar.

The next day, exactly 24 hours later, I removed the steel wool from one jar of each set.

To prepare the wood for the stain, I made a tea of 2 cups boiling water and one tea bag of normal black tea, leaving the bag in the water. When the tea had cooled, I applied it to the board and waited for it to dry before applying the stain mixtures.

I used a new tightly rolled up paper towel as my applicator for each mixture.

For nine days I made a new sample board. The boards were all from the same fruit crate, and the tea was applied the same day I stained the wood.

The Results!

As you can see there’s not much of a difference except with mixture #3.

I was surprised the stronger vinegar, the #1, didn’t change the color as much as the #3 did. I had expected it to dissolve the steel faster and therefore affect the color earlier, instead it seems to need even more time to create the rusty brown color.

Both #1 and #3 turned towards brown on the sixth day, whereas the ones with the steel removed didn’t change color or even get darker over time.

I liked the brown a lot … But I soon discovered the color was a layer of rust that could easily be brushed away! Bummer! Maybe it could be sealed with a finish of some kind, but then again maybe it wouldn’t look as rustic. It could be used on a piece that won’t be touched much, like the sign I was working on in the header photo.

Love your crates!
The color is a result of the tannin in the tea and the iron content of the vinegar, as well as on the wood itself.
I have not tried to make a lighter shade. You could try, on a small spot underneath a crate, with a weak tea and an iron-vinegar solution that has brewed for only a few hours instead of the 24 h.
You could try after 4h of brewing, then let it brew a bit longer if it wasn’t good. Do keep track of the time of the brewing, and do let your application dry properly before coming to any conclusion.
Do share the result! We would love to see how it worked out … =)

No! The 5% refer to the acidity of the vinegar. Normal store bought vinegar in the US has a 5% acidity. The one in Finland has a 10% acidity, making it two times stronger. You need to use vinegar of the 5% acidity and no water!
The tea is needed to add tannin to the wood. Some woods are rich in tannin and might not need the tea.
Make a small test to see what works for you!

If you use apple cider vinegar you will see a difference..also it depends on the wood. Oak has much more tannin so it will get darker..Pine has little so it needs black tea to be put on first. The black tea has a large amount of tannin..so if you put a wash of it on first then the steel wool there will be a darker result.
Balsamic will be darker.